Early Christian Beliefs About the Trinity
Early Christians taught that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit belong together in one God, even when they explained it with different words. Tertullian, Hippolytus, Origen, Novatian, Gregory Thaumaturgus, and early liturgies all give direct statements that fit this view. Matthew 28:19, John 1:1, and Matthew 3:16-17 are the main Bible passages behind these confessions. Some passages are clearer than others, but the overall witness is broad and early.
165 early-church witnesses · 274 source quotations · compared with Scripture
What did early Christians believe about the Trinity?
Early Christian writings strongly affirm Father, Son, and Holy Spirit together while also guarding the oneness of God. Writers like Tertullian, Hippolytus, Origen, Novatian, Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius of Rome, and the early liturgies speak of three persons or hypostases and one Godhead, and they connect this to baptism and worship.
The most direct Bible passages used are Matthew 28:19, John 1:1, John 1:14, Matthew 3:16-17, and 1 Corinthians 8:6, with later writers often citing them as the basic pattern. The evidence is broad and early, though some texts use different terms like substance, hypostases, or persons, so the wording is mixed even when the core teaching is consistent.
A few entries are typological or background rather than direct doctrinal statements, so the strongest case comes from the direct confessional and baptismal passages. Many more early Christian quotations, Bible passages, and source links are gathered below so you can study the evidence for yourself.
Key Takeaways
- Early Christians often confessed Father, Son, and Holy Spirit together in baptism and worship.
- Tertullian, Hippolytus, Origen, Novatian, and Gregory Thaumaturgus give direct Trinity language.
- Matthew 28:19 and John 1:1 are the main Bible passages tied to these early confessions.
- The wording varies, but the shared pattern is one God with real distinction among Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Questions Answered by the Sources
Did early Christians say the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct but one God?
These sources say the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinguished, yet belong to one divine unity or one Godhead. They also reject the idea that Christians should confess three gods.
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Tertullian, Against Praxeas Supporting witness
while the mystery of the dispensation is still guarded, which distributes the Unity into a Trinity, placing in their order the three Persons— the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost: three, however, not in condition, but in degree;
More related quotations from this section 12 shown
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Tertullian, On Baptism Direct teaching
For the law of baptizing has been imposed, and the formula prescribed: Go, He says, teach the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
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Didache, The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles Direct teaching
And concerning baptism, baptize this way: Having first said all these things, baptize into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Matthew 28:19 in living water.
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Didache, The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles Supporting witness
But if you have not either, pour out water thrice upon the head into the name of Father and Son and Holy Spirit.
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness
for the Lord did not say, Baptize into my death, but, Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness
Therefore, O bishops, baptize thrice into one Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost, according to the will of Christ, and our constitution by the Spirit.
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Origen, De Principiis (On First Principles) Supporting witness
From all which we learn that the person of the Holy Spirit was of such authority and dignity, that saving baptism was not complete except by the authority of the most excellent Trinity of them all, i.e., by the naming of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and by joining to the unbegotten God the Father, and to His only-begotten Son, the name also of the Holy Spirit.
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Cyprian, Epistles Supporting witness
But if anyone objects by saying that Novatian holds the same law that the Catholic Church holds, baptizes with the same creed with which we baptize, knows the same God and Father, the same Christ the Son, and the same Holy Spirit, and that for this reason he may claim the power to baptize, because he seems not to differ from us in the baptismal questioning, let anyone who thinks this can be objected know first of all that there is not one law of the Creed, nor is the same questioning shared by us and by schismatics. For when they say, "Do you believe in the remission of sins and eternal life through the holy Church?" they lie in their questioning, since they do not have the Church. Besides this, by their own voice they themselves confess that remission of sins cannot be given except through the holy Church. And since they do not have this, they show that sins cannot be remitted among them.
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Cyprian, Treatises Supporting witness
John 10:30 and again it is written of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, And these three are one.
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Cyprian, Connection to 1 John 5:7 Supporting witness
And again it is written of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, "And these three are one."
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Hippolytus, Exegetical Fragments Supporting witness
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God.
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Early Liturgies, Divine Liturgy of St. James Supporting witness
II Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, the triune light of the Godhead, which is unity subsisting in trinity, divided, yet indivisible: for the Trinity is the one God Almighty, whose glory the heavens declare, and the earth His dominion, and the sea His might, and every sentient and intellectual creature at all times proclaims His majesty: for all glory becomes Him, and honour and might, greatness and magnificence, now and ever, and to all eternity. Amen.
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Victorinus, Commentary on the Apocalypse Supporting witness
...ns still remained. For in writing to the Corinthians he said, "I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. Therefore neither is he who plants anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one." And who does not perceive that Apollos is one person and Paul another, and that Apollos and Paul are not one and the same person? Moreover, the offices mentioned for each of them are also different. For one is he who plants, and another he who waters. The Apostle Paul, however, set forward these two not as one person, but as one. So although Apollos indeed is one, and Paul another, as far as the distinction of persons is concerned, yet as far as their agreement is concerned, both are one. For when two persons have one judgment, one truth, one faith, one and the same religion, and one fear of God also, they are one even though they are two persons. They are the same in that they have the same mind. Those whom the consideration of person divides from one another, those same persons are brought together again as one by the consideration of religion. And although they are not actually the very same people, yet by feeling t
Did early Christians baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?
The compiled sources repeatedly link baptism with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Didache, Tertullian, and later church writings all present this triune baptismal naming as standard Christian practice.
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Origen, Commentary on John Direct teaching
He was in the beginning with God. In the three statements before this, the Evangelist has made known to us three orders of truth, and now he gathers the three into one by saying, “This Word was in the beginning with God.” In the first statement we learned where the Word was: He was in the beginning. Then we learned with whom He was: with God. Then we learned who He was: that He was God. Now by this word “He,” John points out the Word who is God, and gathers into a fourth statement the three that came before: “In the beginning was the Word,” “the Word was with God,” and “the Word was God.” Now he says, “He, this Word, was in the beginning with God.” The term “beginning” may be understood as the beginning of the world, so that from what is said we may learn that the Word was older than the things made from the beginning. For if in the beginning God created heaven and earth, but He was in the beginning, then the Word is plainly older than those things that were made at the beginning, older not only than the firmament and the dry land, but also than the heavens and the earth. Now someone might ask, and not without reason, why it is not said, “In the beginning was the Word of God, and t
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Victorinus, Commentary on the Apocalypse Direct teaching
So God the Father, the Founder and Creator of all things, who alone knows no beginning, invisible, infinite, immortal, and eternal, is one God. To His greatness, majesty, and power, I would not merely say that nothing can be placed above them, but that nothing can be compared with them. From Him, when He willed it, the Son, the Word, was born. He is not understood as a sound in the air, or as a voice forced out from the lungs, but is acknowledged as the substance of the power brought forth by God. The mysteries of His holy and divine birth have been learned by no apostle, discovered by no prophet, known by no angel, and grasped by no creature. They are known to the Son alone, who has known the secrets of the Father. Then, since He was begotten of the Father, He is always in the Father. I say "always" in this way to show that He is not unborn, but born. But He who is before all time must be said to have always been in the Father, because no time can be assigned to Him who is before all time. And He is always in the Father, unless the Father has not always been Father, except that the Father also goes before Him in a certain sense, since it is necessary in some degree that He should
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Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book I Direct teaching
“and the Word was God,” of course, for that which is begotten of God is God.
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Novatian, Treatise Concerning the Trinity Supporting witness
And this is the Word of God. And the Word of God was made flesh, and dwelt among us;
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Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Direct teaching
John also thus taught: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
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Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Supporting witness
Nor, indeed, is it wonderful that He did wonderful things by His word, since He Himself was the Word of God, relying upon heavenly strength and power.
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Theophilus of Antioch, Connection to John 1:1 Background
one of whom, John, says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,"
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Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus Background
In like manner also the three days which were before the luminaries, are types of the Trinity, of God, and His Word, and His wisdom.
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Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book IV Supporting witness
Wherefore, then, in all things, and through all things, there is one God, the Father, and one Word, and one Son, and one Spirit, and one salvation to all who believe in Him.
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Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book III Supporting witness
And the Word of God Himself used to converse with the ante-Mosaic patriarchs, in accordance with His divinity and glory;
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Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book IV Supporting witness
For the Son, being present with His own handiwork from the beginning, reveals the Father to all;
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Caius, Fragments Supporting witness
All the psalms, too, and hymns of brethren, which have been written from the beginning by the faithful, celebrate Christ the Word of God, ascribing divinity to Him.
More related quotations from this section 7 shown
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Victorinus, Commentary on the Apocalypse Supporting witness
therefore the word of Christ affords immortality, and by immortality affords divinity.
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Victorinus, Commentary on the Apocalypse Supporting witness
but by giving divinity by immortality, He proves Himself to be God by offering divinity, which if He were not God He could not give.
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Victorinus, Commentary on the Apocalypse Supporting witness
John 1:10-11 Moreover, this Word was in the beginning with God, and God was the Word.
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Origen, De Principiis (On First Principles) Supporting witness
...e have been describing what is distinctive about His grace and operations. Moreover, nothing in the Trinity can be called greater or less, since the fountain of divinity alone contains all things by His word and reason, and by the Spirit of His mouth sanctifies all things that are worthy of sanctification, as it is written in the Psalm: “By the word of the Lord were the heavens strengthened, and all their power by the Spirit of His mouth.” There is also a special working of God the Father, besides that by which He bestowed upon all things the gift of natural life. There is also a special ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ to those upon whom He confers by nature the gift of reason, by means of which they are enabled to be rightly what they are. There is also another grace of the Holy Spirit, which is bestowed upon the deserving through the ministry of Christ and the working of the Father, in proportion to the merits of those who are made capable of receiving it. This is most clearly pointed out by the Apostle Paul when he demonstrates that the power of the Trinity is one and the same, in these words: “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit; there are diversities of ad
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Origen, De Principiis (On First Principles) Supporting witness
For it is one and the same thing to have a share in the Holy Spirit, which is (the Spirit) of the Father and the Son, since the nature of the Trinity is one and incorporeal.
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Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians Supporting witness
For, as we acknowledge a God, and a Son his Logos, and a Holy Spirit, united in essence — the Father, the Son, the Spirit, because the Son is the Intelligence, Reason, Wisdom of the Father, and the Spirit an effluence, as light from fire;
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Dionysius of Rome, Against the Sabellians Supporting witness
For these indeed rightly know that the Trinity is declared in the divine Scripture, but that the doctrine that there are three gods is neither taught in the Old nor in the New Testament.
Did early Christians reject the idea of three gods?
Several writers explicitly say the Trinity must not be divided into three gods or three divinities. These cards show an early concern to defend divine unity while still confessing Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
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Tertullian, Against Praxeas Direct teaching
...ntain and the river. Yet, by using their idea of an indivisible number, with the results of two and three, they try to explain this distinction in a way that still fits their own opinions. So, while keeping all things in one Person, they divide that one into two, Father and Son. They understand the Son to be flesh, that is, man, that is, Jesus; and the Father to be spirit, that is, God, that is, Christ. In this way, while they argue that the Father and the Son are one and the same, they actually begin by dividing them rather than uniting them. For if Jesus is one thing and Christ another, then the Son will be different from the Father, because the Son is Jesus and the Father is Christ. I suppose they learned this kind of monarchy in the school of Valentinus, making two, Jesus and Christ. But this idea of theirs has in fact already been refuted by what we said earlier, because the Word of God or the Spirit of God is also called the power of the Highest, whom they make to be the Father. Yet these relations are not themselves the same as the One whose relations they are said to be. Rather, they proceed from Him and belong to Him. However, another refutation is waiting for them on t
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Tertullian, Against Praxeas Supporting witness
...say that He made Himself a Son to Himself. But a father makes a son, and a son makes a father. When persons are related to each other in that way, they cannot somehow become related to themselves by themselves. So the Father cannot make Himself a Son to Himself, and the Son cannot make Himself a Father to Himself. And the relations God establishes, He also preserves. A father must have a son in order to be a father. In the same way, a son must have a father in order to be a son. However, having something is one thing, and being something is another. For example, to be a husband, I must have a wife. I can never be my own wife. In the same way, to be a father, I have a son, because I can never be a son to myself. And to be a son, I have a father, because it is impossible for me ever to be my own father. These relations make me what I am when I come to possess them. I will be a father when I have a son, and a son when I have a father. Now if I am to be one of these relations to myself, then I no longer have what I myself am supposed to be. I do not have a father, because I am to be my own father. I do not have a son, because I am to be my own son. Moreover, since I must have one of
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Hippolytus, Against the Heresy of Noetus Direct teaching
... someone say that he speaks of two Gods? I certainly will not speak of two Gods, but of one; of two Persons, however, and of a third divine arrangement, that is, the grace of the Holy Spirit. For the Father indeed is One, but there are two Persons, because there is also the Son; and then there is the third, the Holy Spirit. The Father decrees, the Word carries out, and the Son is manifested, through whom the Father is believed on. The harmonious divine arrangement is led back to one God, for God is One. It is the Father who commands, and the Son who obeys, and the Holy Spirit who gives understanding. The Father is above all, and the Son is through all, and the Holy Spirit is in all. And we cannot otherwise think of one God, except by truly believing in Father and Son and Holy Spirit. For the Jews glorified, or gloried in, the Father, but did not give Him thanks, for they did not recognize the Son. The disciples recognized the Son, but not in the Holy Spirit; therefore they also denied Him. The Father's Word, therefore, knowing the divine arrangement and the will of the Father, namely, that the Father seeks to be worshipped in no other way than this, gave this charge to the disci
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Hippolytus, Against the Heresy of Noetus Supporting witness
for God is One. It is the Father who commands, and the Son who obeys, and the Holy Spirit who gives understanding: the Father who is above all, and the Son who is through all, and the Holy Spirit who is in all.
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Gregory Thaumaturgus, A Sectional Confession of Faith Supporting witness
But some treat the Holy Trinity in an awful manner when they confidently assert that there are not three persons, and introduce the idea of a person devoid of subsistence. Therefore we clear ourselves of Sabellius, who says that the Father and the Son are the same. For he holds that the Father is He who speaks, and that the Son is the Word that abides in the Father, and becomes manifest at the time of creation, and afterward returns to God when all things are fulfilled. He makes the same claim also about the Spirit. We forswear this, because we believe that three persons—namely, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—are declared to possess the one Godhead. For the one divinity, showing itself according to nature in the Trinity, establishes the oneness of the nature. And so there is a divinity that is the property of the Father, according to the word, "There is one God the Father," 1 Corinthians 8:6. And there is a divinity hereditary in the Son, as it is written, "The Word was God," John 1:1. And there is a divinity present according to nature in the Spirit, namely, what subsists as the Spirit of God, according to Paul's statement, "You are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in
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Gregory Thaumaturgus, A Sectional Confession of Faith Direct teaching
But if they say, "How can there be three persons, and yet only one Divinity?" we will give this reply: There are indeed three persons, since there is one person of God the Father, one of the Lord the Son, and one of the Holy Spirit. And yet there is only one Divinity, since the Son is the Image of God the Father, who is One. That is, He is God of God. In the same way, the Spirit is called the Spirit of God, and that by nature according to the very substance, not by a simple participation in God. And there is one substance in the Trinity. This is not also the case with things that are made. For there is not one substance in God and in the things that are made, because none of these is God in substance. Nor indeed is the Lord one of these in substance. But there is one Lord, the Son, and one Holy Spirit. And we also speak of one Divinity, one Lordship, and one Sanctity in the Trinity, because the Father is the Cause of the Lord, having begotten Him eternally, and the Lord is the Prototype of the Spirit. For in this way the Father is Lord, and the Son also is God. And of God it is said that God is a Spirit. John 4:24
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Gregory Thaumaturgus, On the Trinity Supporting witness
We speak also of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: these, however, are not names which have only supervened at some after period, but they are subsistences.
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Origen, Commentary on John Supporting witness
...that the Son is second beside the Father, He being the same as the Father, while a distinction is clearly drawn between the Spirit and the Son in the passage, Matthew 12:32: “Whoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit, he shall not have forgiveness, either in this world or in the world to come.” We consider, therefore, that there are three hypostases: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. At the same time, we believe that nothing is uncreated except the Father. Therefore, as the more pious and truer course, we admit that all things were made by the Word, and that the Holy Spirit is the most excellent and the first in order of all that was made by the Father through Christ. And this, perhaps, is the reason why the Spirit is not called God’s own Son. The Only-begotten alone is by nature and from the beginning a Son, and the Holy Spirit seems to need the Son to minister His essence to Him, so as to enable Him not only to exist, but also to be wise and reasonable and just, and all that we must think of Him as being. All this He has by participation in the character of Christ, of which we have s
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Novatian, Treatise Concerning the Trinity Supporting witness
Thus God the Father, the Founder and Creator of all things, who alone knows no beginning, invisible, infinite, immortal, eternal, is one God. To His greatness, or majesty, or power, I would not merely say that nothing can be preferred, but that nothing can be compared. From Him, when He willed it, the Son, the Word, was born. He is not received in the sound of struck air, or in the tone of a voice forced from the lungs, but is acknowledged in the substance of the power put forth by God. The mysteries of His sacred and divine nativity no apostle has learned, no prophet has discovered, no angel has known, and no creature has grasped. They are known to the Son alone, who has known the secrets of the Father. Then, since He was begotten of the Father, He is always in the Father. And I say always in this way, so that I may show that He is not unborn, but born. But He who is before all time must be said to have always been in the Father, for no time can be assigned to Him who is before all time. And He is always in the Father, unless the Father has not always been Father. Only, in a certain sense, the Father also goes before Him, since it is necessary, in some degree, that He should be be
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Novatian, Treatise Concerning the Trinity Supporting witness
...e he cannot keep even himself forever. If Christ is only man, what is this that He says, "I and the Father are one"? For how can it be that "I and the Father are one," if He is not both God and the Son? He may therefore be called one, since He is of Him, being His Son, and being begotten of Him, and being declared to have proceeded from Him. By this He is also God. When the Jews thought this hateful and believed it to be blasphemous, because in these sayings He had shown Himself to be God, they at once rushed to stone Him, and passionately began to throw stones. But He strongly answered His enemies by the example and witness of the Scriptures. "If," He said, "He called them gods to whom the word of God was given, and the Scripture cannot be broken, do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into this world, 'You blaspheme,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?" By these words He did not deny that He is God. Rather, He confirmed that He is God. For since those to whom the word of God was given are called gods, much more is He God who is found to be above them all. And yet He answered the charge of blasphemy in a fitting way and with lawful tact. For He wished to be u
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Dionysius of Rome, Against the Sabellians Supporting witness
...ord be united with the God of all, and that the Holy Spirit abide and dwell in God. Thus the Divine Trinity must be brought together and gathered into one, as into a certain head, that is, into the all-powerful God of all. For the teaching of the foolish Marcion, which cuts up and divides the monarchy into three elements, is certainly from the devil, and not from Christ's true disciples or from those to whom the Savior's teaching is pleasing. For they rightly know that the Trinity is declared in the divine Scripture, but the teaching that there are three gods is taught neither in the Old Testament nor in the New Testament.
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Dionysius of Rome, Against the Sabellians Supporting witness
3. That admirable and divine unity, therefore, must neither be separated into three divinities, nor must the dignity and eminent greatness of the Lord be diminished by having applied to it the name of creation, but we must believe in God the Father Omnipotent, and on Christ Jesus His Son, and on the Holy Spirit.
More related quotations from this section 4 shown
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Gregory Thaumaturgus, A Sectional Confession of Faith Supporting witness
We forswear this, because we believe that three persons— namely, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit— are declared to possess the one Godhead: for the one divinity showing itself forth according to nature in the Trinity establishes the oneness of the nature;
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Dionysius of Alexandria, Miscellaneous Fragments Supporting witness
15. If, from the fact that there are three hypostases, they say that they are divided, there are three whether they like it or no, or else let them get rid of the divine Trinity altogether.
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Arnobius, Against the Heathen Supporting witness
and that there are not three distinct persons, as there are three different names;
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Tertullian, Against Praxeas Supporting witness
...John 1:1-3 Now, since these words cannot be taken in any other way than as they are written, they clearly show that there is One who was from the beginning, and also One with whom He always was: one, the Word of God; the other, God. Although the Word is also God, He is God regarded as the Son of God, not as the Father. There is One through whom all things were made, and Another by whom all things were made. But in what sense we call Him Another, we have already often explained. In calling Him Another, we must mean that He is not identical. He is not identical, yet not as if separate. He is Other by divine arrangement, not by division. Therefore, He who became flesh was not the very same as He from whom the Word came. "His glory was seen, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father." John 1:14 Notice: not "as of the Father." He alone declared what was in the bosom of the Father. The Father did not reveal the secrets of His own bosom. For this is preceded by another statement: "No man has seen God at any time." Then again, when John the Baptist designates Him as "the Lamb of God," John 1:29 he is not described as being Himself the same as Him whose beloved Son He is. He is cer
Common Questions
Did the earliest Christians believe in the Trinity?
Yes. Early Christian writings and liturgies often speak of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit together while also confessing one God.
Which Bible verses did early Christians use for the Trinity?
Matthew 28:19, John 1:1, Matthew 3:16-17, and 1 Corinthians 8:6 are among the main passages used.
Did early Christians say the Father, Son, and Spirit were the same person?
No. Several writers reject that idea and speak of real distinction between the three while holding to one God.
Source Index for the Trinity
The guided sections above show the strongest quotations. This compact index highlights 160 ranked source links from 274 compiled sources for deeper study.
Source index 160 ranked links shown
Early Christian Writings 80 shown of 165
Primary-source quotations from early Christian writers and church documents.
Bible Passages 80 shown of 109
Related Bible passages saved for comparison with the early Christian quotations.
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